May Flowers

The hills are drying out and turning brown this month. It is going to be an awful year for stickers and foxtails. Now when I go for walks the stickers jump into my socks and fly up the dog's noses like they were magnetized to us. But, I have seen some new flowers.


This is called Golden Star; Bloomeria crocea. It is in the Lily family(Liliaceae).


This is Elegant Clarkia; Clarkia unguiculata. It is in the Evening Primrose family(Onagraceae).


This is, as best as I can tell, Nuttall's Larkspur; Delphinium nuttallianum. It is in the Buttercup Family(Ranunculaceae). There are several Larkspur species occuring in many habitats all over California. They can be difficult to distinguish from each other and are second only to Locoweeds as a livestock poison, especially among cattle.


This is a White Mariposa Lily; Calochortus eurycarpus. This flower is also from the Lily Family(Liliaceae).


This is Yarrow; Achillea millefolium. It is in the Sunflower Family(Asteraceae). Spanish Californians steeped leaves of Yarrow in water to treat cuts and bruises and to stop bleeding.

All the photographs posted here are my own. I got the plant information from my National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers.
Blessings!

For the first time in a long while, my ca lander is not clogged with things to do and places to be! I have been able to read some books in the last couple of weeks, yay! Free time to read books? What is my world coming to? A more manageable pace I hope!

The first book I read was Blink by Ted Dekker. It was the first time I read anything by him. I had seen his books before but just never picked them up. No time! Well, he is an awesome and creative author. Blink was a fast paced, sit on the edge of your seat action packed story of a genius college student who suddenly has the ability to see glimpses into his immediate future. Throw in a beautiful Saudi Arabian princess fleeing from a forced marriage stemming from the struggle for power in the Middle East being chased by bad guys and you are off on an unforgettable chase. The book addresses the deeper questions of, "Is there a God?" and "Is God in control of all things?" It is a cool book, I would recommend it highly.

The second book I read was The Canopy by Angela Hunt. This story takes you to the jungles of Peru. The heroine is a scientist researching and looking for a cure for a deadly prion disease from which she also suffers. To save herself and her daughter who has inherited the disease she must race against time and evil forces of the jungle. A staunch scientist she must come face to face with the spiritual realm and decide if she will choose faith in a Creator to save herself or to continue in her own failing efforts to save herself.

The third book I read (I really had time to read 3 books?!) was Three by Ted Dekker. No pun intended. This book was a psychological mind twister. I don't really know how to explain it. It is about a young man, Kevin, who escaped a dysfunctional childhood. He attended seminary school and was writing a paper on the natures of man, the struggle of good and evil. He becomes the target of a demented stalker who demands that he confess his sin to the world. The stalker gives him riddles to solve and if he doesn't solve them in the alloted time he will blow something up. His childhood friend comes to help him in tracking the stalker but he always seems one step ahead of them. Who could he be??? To find him Kevin must dig deep within himself. I thought I had it figured out but an unexpected twist at the end astonished me! I won't give it away...
I wonder, how does someone come up with such things? Ted Dekker does.
I will definitely be reading more of his novels!
But right now I need to go check my calander, I'm sure there is something I should be doing besides reading or typing this entry....
Blessings!

Look at what I saw in the yard today! Baby quail! Aren't they cute! I did not see Mom and Pop but I'm sure they knew where they were. I hope to see a lot more of these little guys running around soon.

Kutless - What Faith Can Do

Here is a new song by Kutless, it is called What Faith Can Do. I think it is beautiful.
Blessings!

Yesterday was Mother's Day. The day was very nice. I received a beautiful bouquet of tulips from my husband, and also wildflowers from the yard and homemade cards from each of my kids. I love this years flowers and cards this year better than any other because of the thought and effort put into what was given. Not that the others year's Mother's Day gifts were not thoughtful by any stretch of the imagination, but this year was just special. My husband, who is working out of the state, made sure that I received flowers delivered to me. My kids, who usually rely on Dad to help them buy cards, made me cards from the heart. To me that is extra special. I will share the poem that my son wrote in his card to me:
This is not a singing card,
but it is better than the best.
It would be impossible to offer anything less.

It is better than chocolates,
won't die like flowers.
It symbolizes your love!
Oh, how it towers!

Your love is like a rock,
never changing, never ceasing.
Even in all the perils of life,
within all it's madness,
you love me, and I love you, MOM!


Isn't that sweet? My daughter does not like people reading her stuff so I will not share that but her artwork is beautiful and what she wrote was very sweet too!
I am blessed!

What The Old Tree Saw

The Tree did not know how it came to be, only that it was.
It broke through the comfortable ground that held it.
The Tree had already began to probe the depths of it's place in the earth;
it was now time to look up.


The Tree grew high and strong and became familiar with it's place.
It delighted in the symphony around it.
The songs of the birds that heralded the morning,
the calls of the animals that roamed during the day,
the lullaby of the crickets at evening
and the cries of the night creatures.

It was a hot summer afternoon when the Tree was visited by a lone man.
The man sat tired and discouraged under the Tree.
Holding only a bow, the man watched his prey race over the golden hills;
carrying in it his last arrow.
The Tree watched the man and felt discouraged with him.
At least the Tree could shade the man for a while.

It was a cool, misty morning when a young woman sat under the Tree.
The woman sat sobbing; her face in her hands.
The Tree wished to reach to her with it's branches.
The Tree could only whisper, shhhh, as the wind stirred it's leaves.
It cried with her.

Rooted there in it's place in the earth,
the Tree was familiar with the sky above it.
It knew the twinkling stars and bright wandering planets.
It knew the Sun and the Moon in their perpetual dance;
etching out the days and seasons that marked the years of the Tree's life.

Watching the great calender above it,
the Old Tree could no longer count the years.
It's strength and sturdiness was waning.
The Old Tree watched as men came
and dissected the hills around it with fences.

The Old Tree had lost many of it branches
and only a few of it's remaining limbs grew leaves.
The highest bare branch of the Old Tree became
a favorite perch of a local Red-tailed Hawk.
The Old Tree was grateful for it's company.

The Old Tree watched with fading vision
the activities of the people that came to live around it.
The thoughts of the Old Tree wandered back to the day
that it had observed it's place for the first time so long ago.
It wondered how many times it saw the Sun
trace out it's course from north to south, then north again.

One winter the Old Tree felt the rain coming with a blustery wind.
The Old Tree's now brittle branches could no longer dance with the storm.
The Old Tree saw the earth rush up towards it.
The ground that had held the Old Tree all it's life recieved
it back to itself and the Old Tree saw no more.

All of the wildflowers are pretty much gone now. The days are getting hotter, the weeds are getting stickery(stickery is not a word but oh well!). However, there are still interesting things to be found around my house. These pictures are of a weed called Dodder. Dodder is a parasitic plant that feeds off the root system of a host plant. The seeds dropped from the Dodder plant can remain dormant for up to 5 years. If the conditions are right to germinate, the seed will grow into the soil then the young plant must find and attach itself to a host plant or else it will die. Dodder contains only a small amount of chlorophyll, not enough for survival. The young seedling is sensitive to touch and gropes around until it finds and attaches itself to a nearby plant. It winds itself around the stems of its host. Root-like branches then penetrate the stem into the host plants food source. Once the Dodder plant is tapped in, it's root system shrivels leaving no connection with the soil. Wide spread infestations can occur and alfalfa is particularly vulnerable.

Another clip from "Love Rides The Rails"

The weekend of performances of Love Rides The Rails(Will the Mail Train Run Tonight?)is over! It proved to be a weekend that will not be forgotten anytime soon! Posted here is a clip from a scene where Simon Darkway reveals himself to Miss Prudence Hopewell as owner of the bank that will take over her family's railroad.

A clip of "Love Rides The Rails"

Two months of practice come down to this weekend and the four performances of "Love Rides The Rails" (Will The Mail Train Run Tonight?). The cast and stage hands have alreadt completed three of the four performances. They have done an outstanding job! Tonight will be a sell-out crowd for the finale. I have posted a clip of one of my favotite scenes. In this scene, the villan, Simon Sebastian Stoneheart Darkway plots his evil scheme to take over the Pinebrush Middleton and Rocky Mountain railroad but foul means and also in the process steal away the beautiful Miss Prudence Hopewell from his rival, Truman Pendennis.
The villan, Simon, is played by my handsome, talented son, Wyatt Barrett. Yay, Wyatt!
Simon's side-kick, Dirk Sneath, is played by Chris Wallace.
The play is put on by the 7th and 8th grade stusents of Trinity Lutheran School of Paso Robles, California.